Boston University 2012 Offseason

[brassbonanza]

Re: Boston University 2012 Offseason

I agree with this for sure... and is why I don't think the comments in the task force report about working with local establisments are out of line at all. This had to be directed at T's without mentioning them by name.

Oh, this was blatantly directed at T's. Trust me, EVERYONE knew the underage hockey players drank at T's. It's not just the coaching staff, it goes all the way up the administration. I, and probably others, have seen administrators at T's after a game who with their own two eyes saw underage players in there and even shook hands with them.

To tie this to the point that I've been making, if anyone thinks this problem is exclusive to BU, you've got your head wayyyyy up your arse.

 

[Nick Papagiorgio]

Re: Boston University 2012 Offseason

To tie this to the point that I've been making, if anyone thinks this problem is exclusive to BU, you've got your head wayyyyy up your arse.

It's not so much the underage drinking that seems exclusive to BU hockey but more... the raping.

Know what I'm saying?

 

[bukevin]

Re: Boston University 2012 Offseason

So here's the most frequently visited college hockey thread in early September, for all the wrong reasons. Lots of great discussion here. From a selfish, hockey-specific point of view, this report and much of the discussion seems to bring into concrete terms the general reasons why, after 22 seasons, I dumped my season tickets prior to the 2011-12 season:
1) after watching BU teams play like maniacs through the 1990s, I have been thoroughly turned off by BU hockey over the past 12 years or so. We can all agree, I believe, that 2009 was a fluke, not a resurrection of the program.
2) part of my disgust with the program, and thus, my leaving third-row, center-ice seats, was the general sense that I seemed to care more about BU hockey than the players did, is absolutely validated by this report -- the culture of BU hockey seems to be, in order, come to BU to party, get laid, advance your NHL prospects, maybe get a degree, and oh yeah, win a championship or two.
3) I rarely post, but frequently read the BU thread, and I am not a "FIRE PARKER AND IT'S FIXED" guy. I put the blame on all of this squarely on a 50-50 basis. Players and coaches should all be ashamed. A 20-year-old freshman knows why he's at any given hockey school. Coaches know the players they have (if they don't, why not?). This is a BU mess, not a Parker mess, not a Trivino mess, an Escobido mess, etc.
4) BU is responsive to one language: $$$$. Don't whine about paying $22 or more for an October game against Univ. of Toronto , a weekday exhibition against US-18, etc. Stop buying season tickets. I still want BU to succeed. I still want to be proud of my diploma, my school, and my hockey team, but blindly showing up and cheering and paying is not my choice any more.
Get better, BU. That's all

 

[Humanoid]

Re: Boston University 2012 Offseason

Oh, this was blatantly directed at T's. Trust me, EVERYONE knew the underage hockey players drank at T's. It's not just the coaching staff, it goes all the way up the administration. I, and probably others, have seen administrators at T's after a game who with their own two eyes saw underage players in there and even shook hands with them.

To tie this to the point that I've been making, if anyone thinks this problem is exclusive to BU, you've got your head wayyyyy up your arse.

I agree with your last point. Everyone's going to point fingers because it's the hot topic, but as the article I posted talked about, there's a lot of this stuff thats just genuinely prevalent, and it's not worth turning your nose at.

Obviously I don't condone underage drinking or any type of immoral behavior, but at the same time, there needs to be a level of acceptance that people make bad decisions. You just hope their bad decisions don't go out of control and is a case of controlled chaos amongst 20-somethings who act like they're bulletproof. Clearly, BU's strayed from that. Sexual assault is way over the line, but drinking and getting drunk with your teammates is normal life in college. As for the so-called hangers-on and "puck sluts" (let's call it like it is boys), they have to realize what they're doing too.

All that said, T's is hardly the only place that doesn't card or serves underage. I can rattle off at least a dozen surrounding a number of colleges. Remy's in Providence was a haven for pretty much every underage college student from UMass-Dartmouth through URI and Johnson and Wales. It wasn't uncommon for URI athletes underaged to go there because it served and they could party. There's a couple places like that in Amherst, and I'm pretty sure the only places that didn't have bars serving underage were at UNH and UMaine because Durham and Orono are essentially college towns that enforce strict rules BECAUSE they're ONLY college towns.

Are we really going to believe that college students don't try to find bars where they can go out and dance/have fun/drink when they're not 21? ANd are we really going to believe that there aren't places willing to cross the line and break the law in the name of a good profit? I mean. Come on. Let's not be naive about this.

 

[bukevin]

Re: Boston University 2012 Offseason

Nick, how do you drive with your head up your butt? Can you post a video?

 

[Humanoid]

Re: Boston University 2012 Offseason

It's not so much the underage drinking that seems exclusive to BU hockey but more... the raping.

Know what I'm saying?

This is where I say something that college drinking happens but it's better off when it's contained. You're supposed to go to college and make stupid decisions and make bonds based off those decisions as part of the learning and growing up process. But it's so much worse when you think you can do no wrong and instead do whatever the hell you want to simply because "I can."

 

[Rover]

Re: Boston University 2012 Offseason

I agree with your last point. Everyone's going to point fingers because it's the hot topic, but as the article I posted talked about, there's a lot of this stuff thats just genuinely prevalent, and it's not worth turning your nose at.

Obviously I don't condone underage drinking or any type of immoral behavior, but at the same time, there needs to be a level of acceptance that people make bad decisions. You just hope their bad decisions don't go out of control and is a case of controlled chaos amongst 20-somethings who act like they're bulletproof. Clearly, BU's strayed from that. Sexual assault is way over the line, but drinking and getting drunk with your teammates is normal life in college. As for the so-called hangers-on and "puck sluts" (let's call it like it is boys), they have to realize what they're doing too.

All that said, T's is hardly the only place that doesn't card or serves underage. I can rattle off at least a dozen surrounding a number of colleges. Remy's in Providence was a haven for pretty much every underage college student from UMass-Dartmouth through URI and Johnson and Wales. It wasn't uncommon for URI athletes underaged to go there because it served and they could party. There's a couple places like that in Amherst, and I'm pretty sure the only places that didn't have bars serving underage were at UNH and UMaine because Durham and Orono are essentially college towns that enforce strict rules BECAUSE they're ONLY college towns.

Are we really going to believe that college students don't try to find bars where they can go out and dance/have fun/drink when they're not 21? ANd are we really going to believe that there aren't places willing to cross the line and break the law in the name of a good profit? I mean. Come on. Let's not be naive about this.

All this is great but it has nothing to do with the main point, which is the team has no control over the players. Somebody getting drunk and hooking up with sluts isn't a criminal offense. Repeated incidents is a problem. This should have been addressed several years ago when the entire team got drunk before a do or die HE playoff game to save their season and ended up getting smoked when they played Maine hung over. When yu do something like that and there's zero payback because of it, small wonder these kids start thinking they're entitled.

 

[Humanoid]

Re: Boston University 2012 Offseason

All this is great but it has nothing to do with the main point, which is the team has no control over the players. Somebody getting drunk and hooking up with sluts isn't a criminal offense. Repeated incidents is a problem. This should have been addressed several years ago when the entire team got drunk before a do or die HE playoff game to save their season and ended up getting smoked when they played Maine hung over. When yu do something like that and there's zero payback because of it, small wonder these kids start thinking they're entitled.

There's no doubt the school has lost a part of the control over the team since they've outgrown the college, but how can you prove they were hung over when they got smoked by Maine?

 

[bothman]

Re: Boston University 2012 Offseason

When stuff happens / hapopened under the watch of the CEOs of Enron or Countrywide or pick another corporation, wouldn't it be nice and convenient if an acceptable answer was "I didn't know about it".

That's not good enough!

It's embarrassing that some of the BU faithful are willing to toe the line based on this line of thinking. Wasn't it Parker who recruited these numbnuts?

BU carries what, 30 players on the roster. Nearly 10% of that roster faced a felony charge last season. For a football team, the equivalent would be 10 players.

BU Hockey: Playing with Fire

 

[Rover]

Re: Boston University 2012 Offseason

There's no doubt the school has lost a part of the control over the team since they've outgrown the college, but how can you prove they were hung over when they got smoked by Maine?

I didn't hand out breathalizer tests, but they played a lethargic, sh ! tty game and then it came out 16 of them got hammered the day before the game. While I suppose they could have recovered in time and then just coincidentally laid an egg, its not a leap to suspect a teamwide hangover.

 

[Wicked Slappaahs]

Re: Boston University 2012 Offseason

Really? Penn St largely turned a blind eye because JoePa was a tenured legend whose legacy was not subject to taint (until the university had no choice but to act)

What happens if there is another incident this year and despite all of the hard data in the hands of the administration that shows the inmates are runnign the asylum, they continued to turn a blind eye and efectively gave Parker a slight slap on the wrist.

I see lots of parallels....

Lack of Institutional Control. Simple as that.

The tail has apprarently been wagging the dog at BU for quite some time now. The institution is one (or two, or three) multi-million dollar lawsuits away from a scorched earth campaign in the hockey dept.

 

[mookie1995]

BU carries what, 30 players on the roster. Nearly 10% of that roster faced a felony charge last season. For a football team, the equivalent would be 10 players.

Lies! Dam lies! And statistics

10% of 30 is 3. But only 2 were arrested. 3 is nearly 2 (albeit a 50% increase!!). I'll run with it!

 

[brassbonanza]

Re: Boston University 2012 Offseason

I didn't hand out breathalizer tests, but they played a lethargic, sh ! tty game and then it came out 16 of them got hammered the day before the game. While I suppose they could have recovered in time and then just coincidentally laid an egg, its not a leap to suspect a teamwide hangover.

The party in question took place on St. Patrick's Day of 2010, that was a Wednesday. The game was on Friday, thus they would've had to be so sloshed they'd likely be dead of alcohol poisoning to be actively playing 48 hours later still hungover. Still a bad idea and it should not have happened, but get your facts straight.

 

[brassbonanza]

Re: Boston University 2012 Offseason

Lies! Dam lies! And statistics

10% of 30 is 3. But only 2 were arrested. 3 is nearly 2 (albeit a 50% increase!!). I'll run with it!

And one of said felonies was dropped because they admitted they couldn't prove it happened.

 

[J.D.]

Re: Boston University 2012 Offseason

He needs an editor who would have told him to not set Jerry up in a glass house

I don't see why that shouldn't be said about York. Unless you're saying you think there's a possibility of something of this magnitude happening under his watch. I'd be pretty surprised if it did. Happening under Jack Parker's watch? Not so surprising.

 

[J.D.]

Re: Boston University 2012 Offseason

No worries going forward, mookie. Remember, BU is gonna make the players take a class on how to prevent yourself from raping someone.

"BU isn't covering this up, unlike Cardinal Law."

Somehow this is the neg rep I got for this...

 

[BeloBrasil]

Re: Boston University 2012 Offseason

1) after watching BU teams play like maniacs through the 1990s, I have been thoroughly turned off by BU hockey over the past 12 years or so. We can all agree, I believe, that 2009 was a fluke, not a resurrection of the program.
2) part of my disgust with the program, and thus, my leaving third-row, center-ice seats, was the general sense that I seemed to care more about BU hockey than the players did, is absolutely validated by this report -- the culture of BU hockey seems to be, in order, come to BU to party, get laid, advance your NHL prospects, maybe get a degree, and oh yeah, win a championship or two.

Hey Kevin, you are "preaching to the choir" my friend for I too was a long time B.U. season ticket holder during the 1990's and I also ditched my choice seats. I, however, have a solution for you. Instead of B.U. season tickets get yourself some B.C season tickets! Now, I am not here to make this suggestion as a means of "kicking" the B.U. faithful when they are down and hurting. No sir! I sincerely believe that the B.C. hockey experience is superior to that of B.U. I am not talking about wins and losses and national championships. Both schools are rich in these categories. No, I am talking about ambiance! Conte Forum (while admittedly not perfect) is a far better venue than the Agganis Arena. The Agganis has a narrow concourse, inadequate bathrooms, a steep pitch on the stairs leading to the seats, and very little leg room. Not sure about parking, but last time I was at the Agganis I had to pay for parking. At B.C. you have plenty of leg room, a wider concourse, HUGE bathrooms, and FREE GARAGE PARKING! B.C. is just the best at creating a nice, family-friendly, hockey experience.

You are, however, dead wrong in your assessment of the B.U. program. As a long time season ticket holder you of all people should know that it most certainly is ALL Jack Parker's fault. As head coach it is his responsibilty to make sure that his players comport themselves accordingly. That is a very hard task indeed for a man whose behavior has been at best reprehensible. How many times over the past two seasons has Parker been called upon to apologize FOR HIS OWN ACTIONS? There was the Vermont incident this past season and then there was the melee that occurred during the Hockey East quarterfinals at the end of the 2010-2011 season. Parker's teams have always been prone to "goonery" when they lose and that behavior is nothing more than a reflection of the coach. It is time for the B.U. administration to step up and suggest to Coach Parker (privately, or course) that now would be a good time to announce his retirement at the conclusion of the 2012-2013 season. Better to leave on retirement terms than to be summarily dismissed.

 

[brassbonanza]

Re: Boston University 2012 Offseason

Hey Kevin, you are "preaching to the choir" my friend for I too was a long time B.U. season ticket holder during the 1990's and I also ditched my choice seats. I, however, have a solution for you. Instead of B.U. season tickets get yourself some B.C season tickets! Now, I am not here to make this suggestion as a means of "kicking" the B.U. faithful when they are down and hurting. No sir! I sincerely believe that the B.C. hockey experience is superior to that of B.U. I am not talking about wins and losses and national championships. Both schools are rich in these categories. No, I am talking about ambiance! Conte Forum (while admittedly not perfect) is a far better venue than the Agganis Arena. The Agganis has a narrow concourse, inadequate bathrooms, a steep pitch on the stairs leading to the seats, and very little leg room. Not sure about parking, but last time I was at the Agganis I had to pay for parking. At B.C. you have plenty of leg room, a wider concourse, HUGE bathrooms, and FREE GARAGE PARKING! B.C. is just the best at creating a nice, family-friendly, hockey experience.

You are, however, dead wrong in your assessment of the B.U. program. As a long time season ticket holder you of all people should know that it most certainly is ALL Jack Parker's fault. As head coach it is his responsibilty to make sure that his players comport themselves accordingly. That is a very hard task indeed for a man whose behavior has been at best reprehensible. How many times over the past two seasons has Parker been called upon to apologize FOR HIS OWN ACTIONS? There was the Vermont incident this past season and then there was the melee that occurred during the Hockey East quarterfinals at the end of the 2010-2011 season. Parker's teams have always been prone to "goonery" when they lose and that behavior is nothing more than a reflection of the coach. It is time for the B.U. administration to step up and suggest to Coach Parker (privately, or course) that now would be a good time to announce his retirement at the conclusion of the 2012-2013 season. Better to leave on retirement terms than to be summarily dismissed.

So you're advocating that BU fans all become BC fans? Now the Parker bashers have really gone off the deep end.

 

[BeloBrasil]

Re: Boston University 2012 Offseason

So you're advocating that BU fans all become BC fans? Now the Parker bashers have really gone off the deep end.

No, no, no! My suggestion was just to BUKevin who ditched his season tickets. The rest of the B.U. rabble is welcome to stay down at the low-rent end of Commonwealth Avenue right there next to Ellis the Rim Man (if he is still in business).

 

[Tater]

Re: Boston University 2012 Offseason

No, no, no! My suggestion was just to BUKevin who ditched his season tickets. The rest of the B.U. rabble is welcome to stay down at the low-rent end of Commonwealth Avenue right there next to Ellis the Rim Man (if he is still in business).

You're kidding, right? Ellis has been gone a decade. It is now MATCH, a charter school.